“Now he’s with his son,” said his wife, Gayle Mead, referring to their son, Jack, who died six years ago from a brain tumor.

Mead was in the liquor business and had won the moped in a promotional contest.

“He always wanted a motorcycle, but I always said no, you’ll kill yourself,” Gayle told the Lake County News-Sun.

He had put the moped together on Saturday morning and had taken it for a spin. His family spent the day on the boat on Bangs Lake and when they returned home with friends, he decided around 8 p.m. to take it out again.

He was coming back down the street when a young child playing near a mailbox and the street came out “and he must not have seen him,” said his wife. He slammed on the brakes.

The boy suffered minor injuries from being hit with what authorities believe was the moped mirror. The child was treated and released at Condell.

“He flew off the bike, and he was a big man (6-foot 7-inches tall). His skull was broken on impact,” she said. He was not wearing a helmet. He also had injuries to his neck, broken ribs and collapsed lungs.

“When I came outside he was still alive. Then he stopped breathing and I gave him [mouth to mouth] and he started breathing again,” she said.

Wauconda police said the accident was at Lake Shore Drive and Oakdale near Mead’s home. Alcohol is believed to be a factor in the crash.

Mead was taken to Condell and he lived until Sunday afternoon.

“He wouldn’t have wanted to be a vegetable in a nursing home,” his wife said. “In six minutes he was gone. Now he’s with his son.

“He really liked being with his family and kids,” said Gayle. He has a daughter, Lauren, 21, and son, Matthew, 18. She said he really liked to play cards, poker especially. “And he loved crazy, scary movies,” she said.

Visitation will be from 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday, June 23, at Kisselburg-Wauconda Funeral Home, followed by a service.

Mead had his driver’s license checked off as an organ donor and his wife said doctors were going to use his corneas, skin and bone.